Thliptosaurus

Thliptosaurus
Temporal range: Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone
Changhsingian
Photograph and diagram of the holotype skull (BP/1/2796) of Thliptosaurus.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Family: Kingoriidae
Genus: Thliptosaurus
Kammerer, 2019
Species:
T. imperforatus
Binomial name
Thliptosaurus imperforatus
Kammerer, 2019

Thliptosaurus (meaning "compressed lizard") is an extinct genus of small kingoriid dicynodont from the latest Permian period of the Karoo Basin in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It contains the type and only known species T. imperforatus. Thliptosaurus is from the upper Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone, making it one of the youngest Permian dicynodonts known, living just prior to the Permian mass extinction. It also represents one of the few small bodied dicynodonts to exist at this time, when most other dicynodonts had large body sizes and many small dicynodonts (such as Diictodon) had gone extinct. The unexpected discovery of Thliptosaurus in a region of the Karoo outside of the historically sampled localities suggests that it may have been part of an endemic local fauna not found in these historic sites. Such under-sampled localities may contain 'hidden diversities' of Permian faunas that are unknown from traditional samples. Thliptosaurus is also unusual for dicynodonts as it lacks a pineal foramen, suggesting that it played a much less important role in thermoregulation than it did for other dicynodonts.

While the name literally translates to "compressed lizard", referring to the severely crushed and flattened skull of the only known specimen, it also alludes to the Biblical thlipsis, a time of tribulation and hardship preceding the End Times, alluding to the existence of Thliptosaurus just before the mass extinction at the end of the Permian, also known as the Great Dying.